Ex-tenant sues UI over mold

IOWA CITY - An Iowa City man is suing the University of Iowa and the state Board of Regents, claiming he rented a university-owned house that had repeated problems with water in the basement and an eventual mold infestation.

In his lawsuit, Cliff Missen said that despite his repeated complaints to Heritage Property Management agency, the UI and the regents office, the university ignored the problem. He said he was eventually diagnosed by an allergist with a serious mold allergy after suffering numerous health problems.

He's seeking $125,000 in general damages and $250,000 in punitive damages.

“There's something really wrong about what they did,” he said. “Decent people would have sat down and said, ‘We made a mistake, I'm sorry, let's fix it.' That's exactly what I wanted.”

Officials with the regents office said they don't comment on pending litigation. UI officials did not immediately have a response to the lawsuit.

Missen filed the suit against the board of regents, the UI and Heritage on May 7 in Johnson County District Court.

He said he rented the UI-owned house at 219 Melrose Ct. in October 2008 through agent Heritage Property Management, and he lived there for about 10 months.